When the imperial power of the Eastern Roman Empire was passed into the hands of Constantine XI, it was so desolate that it could not be described as "bleak".

-- Mountains and rivers are exhausted, the treasury is washed, poverty and weakness, strong enemies are around, and the road is at the end of the road......

The splendor of the Eastern Roman Empire had disappeared since the time of the Crusades, and the brilliance of the purple robe and the double-headed eagle had long since dimmed.

The purple robe of Emperor Constantine XI was nothing more than a new garment woven from air, and his crown was nothing more than a tease of fate.

What used to take half a year to cross the Roman map is now a three-hour walk away—the Shijie Empire, which once spanned three continents, now has only a bodyless head and a landless capital!

“…… The king of Rome, the king of Shijie, the emperor who rules the four corners of the universe Bixia? Hehehehehe! What a joke!! ”

Recalling the anime works he had watched in his previous life, a certain Roman tyrant gave him an honorific title, and then taking stock of all the family wealth that the Eastern Roman emperor had, Constantine XI suddenly couldn't help but feel the urge to cry.

“…… In total, it was only a city the size of a saucer, with no more than 100,000 subjects under its jurisdiction, and only 5,000 strong men in the whole city - and in peacetime it was not able to mobilize at all because of lack of money, and the city was not self-sufficient in food, and had to rely entirely on maritime trade and tourism to sustain its economy (to receive pilgrims)...... My God! What kind of emperor is such a small amount of capital? Even the rural daimyo of Japan's Warring States period are far inferior! I remember when I first played the game, Oda Nobunaga was just starting out in Owari Province. It seems that there are also two or three hundred thousand people? ”

- Realistically speaking, the Eastern Roman Empire under the rule of the Palaiologos dynasty could no longer be called an "empire". From the very beginning of this last dynasty, it had been reduced to the status of a second-class small state, and now it has degenerated to the point of a small city-state.

On the other hand, after a long period of turmoil, decay and plague, Constantinople has become a dying city.

Even in the early 12th century, when the Eastern Roman Empire had begun to decline, the population of the imperial capital, Constantinople, was still a million. www.520xs. was first launched, but now there are less than 100,000 people left. The former vicinity of Constantinople is dotted with thriving towns and monasteries. Today, only a few desolate villages remain, surrounded by dilapidated and collapsed churches, desperately surviving.

A suburb of the capital across the Bosphorus. Now most of it is in the hands of the Turks. And the Pella and Galata concessions in the Golden Horn were sold to the Genoese - these are important defense sites related to the life and death of the capital! In particular, the Galata Concession controlled the coastal defense of Constantinople and held the other end of the Golden Horn barrage. In that final battle of destruction, it was precisely because of the hesitation and betrayal of the Galata Concession that the Turkish warships were able to enter the Golden Horn and inflict a fatal blow on the Eastern Roman Empire!

Of course, theoretically, there were several distant enclaves in the name of the Eastern Roman Empire at this time, in addition to the capital Constantinople. The largest piece of land is called Moria. It is roughly equivalent to the Peloponnese Peninsula of later Greece, or the Spartan city-state in its heyday. However, due to the distance from the capital, separated by a large area of Turkish territory, and this place is a place where wars are fought every day, if there is no strongman with an iron fist. It was about to be overturned and collapsed - so Constantine XI could not control the land remotely, so he had to divide Moria among his two younger brothers, Thomas and Demytus, in the hope that they would share the pressure on the capital.

But the problem is that these two "royal brothers" are not fuel-efficient lamps, and they secretly covet the throne. One was anti-Turkish and the other was pro-Turkish, and the Ottoman Turkish army had already choked itself to death before it came, and it was not able to provide the slightest help to the imperial brother in Constantinople.

Then there was the northern part of the peninsula of Asia Minor, on the Black Sea coast, in Trebizond, but this territory was farther away and more independent, and it was only a verbal submission to Constantinople. The specific relationship can be roughly analogous to China and Thailand during the Ming and Qing dynasties - when there is nothing to do, maybe someone will be sent to say something nice to the emperor and ask for some benefits, but when the emperor is in trouble, he can basically only act as if this vassal does not exist at all.

In addition, the Eastern Roman Empire had several islands in the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean Sea, but the manpower and material resources that these islands could provide were really pitiful - the largest of them, Lemnos, had a population of only two or three thousand, equivalent to the level of a village, and the remaining islands had only a few hundred people. The Eastern Roman Empire was able to hold them, not because it had enough force, but because the place was too poor and broken and no one wanted it!

Of course, if Constantinople were to fall one day, these broken islands could serve as a place of refuge - if they could escape.

After taking stock of all the properties under his name, the sad emperor found that he had a total population of 100,000 in his area under his control—30,000 outside the city and 70,000 inside the city. But the arable land in the suburbs is being "grassed in the valley" by the Turks almost every day, and there is no hope at all. The empire that truly belonged to him was the size of a small saucer, with a large circular wall that enclosed the ruined churches, palaces, and disorganized dwellings.

This was the Eastern Roman Empire of Constantine XI - there were no agricultural areas rich in grain, no mines and no salt works. Although Constantinople's geographical location allowed the dock to prosper in its trading market, the problem was that the most lucrative customs revenues had long been completely controlled by the Genoese and Venetians, leaving only a small amount of industrial, commercial and service taxes in the city, which could be used to keep the country running.

What's more, the territory belonging to the Ottoman Turks has surrounded this miniature empire huddled in Constantinople from all sides. Even the dullest of people can see that this strongest shield of the Christian shijie is almost destined to be planted in the crescent moon banner of the old enemy!

“…… My God! Is there anyone more tragic than me in the past and present? How can this completely one-sided deadlock be broken? ”

Constantine XI who was replaced with a soul. Grabbing his hair in infinite distress, he let out a desperate sigh as he looked up to the sky.

-- Because he was scared out of a sweat when his soul passed through the possession, the cold and cold he had contracted were much lessened, and he was basically cured without medicine - of course, in the eyes of others, this was all because of God's blessing and the blessing of the Virgin Mary.

Except for the sad state of the Eastern Roman Empire, which has fallen into a big hole. What made this traveler feel even more unhappy was that even if he didn't mention that the Eastern Roman Empire was about to end, this time the crossing was really tragic enough for him - a 22-year-old college student in the prime of life before the crossing. After crossing over, his eyes turned into a 47-year-old middle-aged uncle (Constantine XI, born in 1404) in the blink of an eye...... Twenty-five years of life is gone! Not to mention that this uncle is still a lonely old bachelor who has no children and no daughters, and has died two wives in a row......

Although this Uncle Constantine has the honorific title of Roman Emperor, the actual gold content is really not much different from that of the Japanese emperor in the Middle Ages. And no matter how the Japanese princes and daimyo went to war. As an emperor, his life is generally not in danger. But the Roman emperor was not so fortunate - since Augustus (Octavian) founded the Roman Empire, the Roman emperor has been a dangerous and high-risk profession, and the Roman emperor who can die in peace and death has not even been a third of the full in history!

What is even more tragic is that even if the soul of Constantine XI has completely despaired of his future and fate, and wants to give up on himself and have fun on the verge of death, it is difficult to do so in this dying empire - the reason why this dying empire can still survive in such a desperate situation and not disintegrate itself is almost entirely dependent on the charismatic personality of Constantine XI. The little wealth that the government of the Eastern Roman Empire was able to obtain was thrown into an endless black hole of armaments. The expenses of the court have long been cut to a minimum.

Therefore, in the shabby palace of Constantine XI, there are no fine clothes and food, no beautiful flowers, and even no gold coins that can be used to buy wine ponds and meat forests. The mercenaries in the city of Constantinople were in arrears for a long time. If, in such a desperate situation, Emperor Bixia still wanted to extravagant and extravagant pleasures, the disillusioned ministers would at once follow the old practice of disposing of the deposed emperors, and lock him up in the monastery, and then go to Moria to ask one of his younger brothers to be the Eastern Roman Emperor......

Looking at the bland and tasteless oatmeal on the table. And the black bread, which was as hard as a stone, Emperor Bixia sighed in disappointment.

“…… Forget it, it's useless to sit here and dream, and you can only take one step at a time. If you can't do it, go into exile in Italy and see if the Pope is willing to raise an emperor who eats leisurely......"

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While Constantine XI was feeling sorry for himself in his ruined palace, a Turkish envoy with a secret letter from the court hurried across the sea to the city of Bursa in Asia Minor to deliver the news of his father's death to Murad Sultan's twenty-one-year-old eldest son.

When the cunning and energetic Turkish prince heard the news, he immediately jumped on his horse, whipped his thoroughbred foal under his crotch, and galloped one hundred and twenty miles to the Bosphorus. He then continued to look for ships to cross the sea, preparing to set foot on the land of Europe as fast as he could, and rushed to Adrianople, the capital of the Balkans, to compete with his younger brother for the throne of the Ottoman Turks, which his father had bequeathed.

When he crossed the Bosphorus by boat, the prince looked up at the tall walls of Constantinople in the distance, and could not help but be proud, pointed at Constantinople with his horsewhip, and said to his cronies, "...... When I became a sultan, the first thing I had to do was conquer it! ”

This young Turkish prince was the future Sultan of Mehmed II and one of the most famous conquerors in Turkish history.

This day was the fifth day of the second month of the year 1451 C.E.

The wheel of history has begun to turn slowly, and it is about to drive to a completely different fork in the road......

- Because, there is a rather strong group of traversers who are about to stir up the situation! (You are welcome, your support is my biggest motivation.) )